Blog

Nov 19 11:07 am

On Mon­day, Novem­ber 18, 2024, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island (TGI), New York City Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion (NYCEDC), and Brook­lyn Navy Yard Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion (BNY­DC) held a Cli­mate Tech­nol­o­gy Show­case. Togeth­er, the three mis­sion-aligned pub­lic enti­ties with sites along the New York Har­bor, and con­nect­ed by NYC Fer­ry, are com­mit­ted to mak­ing New York City the glob­al cap­i­tal of cli­mate inno­va­tion through pilot­ing pro­grams, leas­es, work­force devel­op­ment invest­ments, and reg­u­la­to­ry wayfind­ing. The Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive (HCC) is pledg­ing to dou­ble the num­ber of pilots con­duct­ed across the col­lab­o­ra­tive and struc­ture the pro­gram so that com­pa­nies ben­e­fit from both cam­pus-spe­cif­ic expe­ri­ences and col­lab­o­ra­tive-wide net­works, and fund­ing opportunities.

The NYC Cli­mate Tech­nol­o­gy Show­case high­lights the col­lec­tive impact of pilot­ing across the HCC while also pro­vid­ing addi­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties for par­tic­i­pat­ing com­pa­nies to grow and scale their busi­ness­es in New York City and increase expo­sure to prospec­tive cus­tomers, both gov­ern­men­tal and in the pri­vate sec­tor. Over 40 star­tups par­tic­i­pat­ed, and the event fea­tured demon­stra­tions of inno­v­a­tive cli­mate tech­nol­o­gy from six dif­fer­ent companies.

“New York City’s ded­i­ca­tion to grow­ing the green econ­o­my is stronger than ever and the role of cities as engines of inno­va­tion has nev­er been more impor­tant than in the urgent work to com­bat cli­mate change,” said First Deputy May­or Maria Tor­res-Springer. ​“The city’s com­mit­ment and cre­ativ­i­ty are exem­pli­fied by the Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive, a part­ner­ship between the Brook­lyn Navy Yard Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion, Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, and the New York City Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion that deploys city-con­trolled cam­pus­es in the defin­ing fight of our time and helps build a vibrant cli­mate tech ecosys­tem in the city of New York.”

“Today’s show­case, high­light­ing more than 40 part­ners from across the Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive, demon­strates what’s pos­si­ble when inno­va­tors are giv­en the space and resources need­ed to grow,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Through the city’s ecosys­tem of pilot­ing sites, includ­ing Gov­er­nors Island, we’ve been able to accel­er­ate real-world test­ing, help­ing to pro­pel these com­pa­nies into their next stages of devel­op­ment and giv­ing New York­ers a front-row seat to the tools to fight cli­mate change.”

“The Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive is a unique col­lab­o­ra­tion of three mas­sive for­mer mil­i­tary bases that are being trans­formed to fight cli­mate change, the glob­al threat of our time,” said NYCEDC Pres­i­dent & CEO Andrew Kim­ball. ​“Today’s show­case high­lights some of the amaz­ing entre­pre­neurs and tech­nol­o­gy already being pilot­ed at our three sites to unlock eco­nom­ic growth, cre­ate jobs, and pave the way for a green­er, more resilient future.”

“Since the launch of the Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive ear­li­er this year, we’ve made tremen­dous progress towards our com­mit­ment of mak­ing New York City the epi­cen­ter of cli­mate tech R&D, and pro­duc­tion,” said Lind­say Greene, Pres­i­dent and CEO, Brook­lyn Navy Yard Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion. ​“From fur­ther­ing EV solu­tions in urban envi­ron­ments to test­ing marine-based car­bon cap­ture in one of the busiest har­bors in the world, we’ve suc­cess­ful­ly lever­aged our water­front assets to iden­ti­fy and advance the solu­tions we will need to com­bat cli­mate change. We look for­ward to dou­bling down on this crit­i­cal work next year.”

“The HCC will be an engine of eco­nom­ic oppor­tu­ni­ty for New York­ers that inte­grates edu­ca­tion, train­ing and career place­ment for 2100 New York­ers and will help posi­tion the city’s diverse tal­ent for green col­lar jobs that are crit­i­cal to grow­ing the green econ­o­my,” said Abby Jo Sigal, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Tal­ent and Work­force Devel­op­ment. ​“The city’s green econ­o­my will cre­ate 400,000 jobs, includ­ing 12,000 appren­tice­ships by 2040, and the crit­i­cal role that the HCC will play in con­nect­ing local tal­ent to these oppor­tu­ni­ties will make our econ­o­my more inclu­sive, resilient, and green.”

“New York City is where the world’s bright­est minds come to test and exe­cute their best ideas on the biggest stage,” said New York City Chief Tech­nol­o­gy Offi­cer Matthew Fras­er. ​“Today’s event demon­strates this admin­is­tra­tion’s com­mit­ment to col­lab­o­rate across sec­tors, indus­tries, and bor­ders to build a glob­al hub for urban inno­va­tion. Our efforts to stream­line and accel­er­ate the pilot­ing process for emerg­ing tech­nolo­gies, through ini­tia­tives such as the NYC Smart City Test­bed Pro­gram, allow us to bet­ter eval­u­ate and poten­tial­ly scale solu­tions to our most press­ing chal­lenges — a win for tech com­pa­nies, city gov­ern­ment, and, most impor­tant­ly, 8.3 mil­lion New York­ers. I thank the mem­bers of the Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive for their part­ner­ship in this impor­tant work.”

The Adams Admin­is­tra­tion has com­mit­ted to mak­ing New York City a glob­al hub of urban inno­va­tion – one of the 40 ini­tia­tives laid out in the ​“New” New York Action Plan. Fol­low­ing this com­mit­ment, the NYCEDC part­nered with the Cor­nell Tech’s Jacobs Urban Tech Hub to release Pilot:New York City as a road map to accel­er­ate urban inno­va­tion in New York City. The for­ma­tion of the HCC builds on May­or Adams’ efforts to devel­op a ​“Har­bor of the Future,” a mul­ti­fac­eted ini­tia­tive, and the ​“Green Econ­o­my Action Plan” — both announced by May­or Adams in his 2024 State of the City address to reimag­ine New York City’s water­front and fuel 21^st-cen­tu­ry growth and innovation.

As the core of New York City’s bur­geon­ing cli­mate inno­va­tion ecosys­tem, the HCC will invest over $725 mil­lion to advance New York’s green econ­o­my in NYCEDC’s Sun­set Park Dis­trict, the Brook­lyn Navy Yard, and on Gov­er­nors Island. The invest­ments sup­port cli­mate inno­va­tors through pilot­ing, ten­ant­i­ng, reg­u­la­to­ry coor­di­na­tion, work­force devel­op­ment, knowledge/​data shar­ing, fundrais­ing, and facil­i­tat­ing access to City agen­cies. The HCC, launched from the Adams’ Admin­is­tra­tion Green Econ­o­my Action Plan, unlocks six mil­lion square feet of space, will sup­port the cre­ation of 5,000 jobs, edu­cate and train 2,100 stu­dents, and gen­er­ate $55 bil­lion of eco­nom­ic impact.

Through­out the last year, the HCC has gath­ered crit­i­cal insights into the col­lec­tive impact of pilot­ing across our dif­fer­ent cam­pus­es. Between 2023 – 2024, 19 green econ­o­my founders and cli­mate tech com­pa­nies com­plet­ed or had an active pilot at one or more of the HCC pilot sites, includ­ing TGI’s Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge, NYCEDC’s Pilots at BAT pro­gram, and BNY­D­C’s Yard Labs.

Insights from the last year show that cli­mate tech­nolo­gies come from all over the world with com­pa­nies cut­ting across a range of green econ­o­my indus­tries, includ­ing resilience infra­struc­ture, build­ings, trans­porta­tion, and ener­gy. Com­pa­nies come to New York City to pilot at var­i­ous devel­op­ment stages but tend to be in the deploy­ment stage. Through pilot­ing their tech­nolo­gies along the East Riv­er water­front, the indus­tri­al envi­ron­ment of all three HCC sites, com­pa­nies have been able to:

• Col­lect data that helps com­pa­nies iter­ate and improve their product;
• Demon­strate com­mer­cial viability;
• Raise expo­sure of their cli­mate tech­nolo­gies to both the investors and the public;
• Gain entry into the New York City mar­ket and tai­lor ser­vices to New York;
• Secure indus­try cer­ti­fi­ca­tions, dur­ing the pilot phase or plan to get their cer­ti­fi­ca­tion upon com­plet­ing their pilot;
• Expand their foot­print in New York City, includ­ing mak­ing new con­nec­tions with city agen­cies, expand­ing to new office, lab or fac­to­ry space, and cre­at­ing new investor con­nec­tions; and
• Onboard­ed new interns, trainees, full or part time staff, cre­at­ing an aver­age of four new jobs per pilot project.

“This pilot serves as a proof-of-con­cept demon­stra­tion and has accel­er­at­ed our growth in NYC, LA, and Detroit. This project has helped us gen­er­ate rev­enue, col­lect real-world data, part­ner with more than 20 cus­tomers to help move their goods, and raise $100k in grant fund­ing to bring our 100% elec­tric freight mobil­i­ty solu­tions to oth­er cities across the US,” said Emis­sion­less Founder Max Yer­gan.

“Both pilots have accel­er­at­ed our prod­uct devel­op­ment to val­i­date how our sys­tem can be installed in build­ings and how it can be iter­at­ed to meet real-world con­straints. Fol­low­ing our pilot at Gov­er­nors Island, we received mul­ti­ple inquiries from cus­tomers inter­est­ed in com­mer­cial­ly test­ing our sys­tem at their facil­i­ties. These pilot oppor­tu­ni­ties like­ly brought down our go-to-mar­ket time­line from 24 months to at least six months,” said LÆRO Design Stu­dio Founder & CEO Noe­mi Flo­rea.

“Matcha’s pilot at the Brook­lyn Army Ter­mi­nal was an accel­er­ant to our entry into New York. The pilot helped Matcha demon­strate the reli­a­bil­i­ty of its EV charg­ing soft­ware, gain approval from NYSER­DA, and gen­er­ate press,” said Matcha Co-founder and CEO Chris Klue­sen­er.

“Beyond real sav­ings data cap­tured, the pilot helped us fig­ure out ways to improve our soft­ware in a real pro­duc­tion envi­ron­ment. For exam­ple, when the pilot site had a black­out event dur­ing a pow­er surge in the grid, 7 of 25 of our smart plugs could not recon­nect to Wi-Fi. We have since devel­oped a more robust IoT pro­to­col to over­come this sit­u­a­tion. With these issues iden­ti­fied and resolved at a small scale, we then gain the con­fi­dence and abil­i­ty to install at a larg­er scale (>50 out­lets per account). This is why the pilot is very impor­tant to us — to val­i­date our con­cept with real data and find loop­holes in our prod­uct to improve,” said Revert Tech­nolo­gies Co-founder and CEO Ryan Li.

“This pilot with DOT and NYCEDC has giv­en us the oppor­tu­ni­ty to refine our prod­uct and ser­vice offer­ing for NYC’s deliv­ery work­ers, ensur­ing that it is built with their spe­cif­ic needs in mind. DOT and NYCEDC cleared the way for us to be able to build safe charg­ing infra­struc­ture for NYC’s streets, and we look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing to work togeth­er,” said Swobbee US Man­ag­ing Direc­tor Stephan von Wolff.

“Our pilot at TGI has been instru­men­tal in our com­pa­ny’s suc­cess, gen­er­at­ing crit­i­cal data to iter­ate and improve our prod­uct inter­nal­ly, while show­ing exter­nal­ly that our prod­uct works and what its ben­e­fits are to secure new cus­tomers, investors, com­mu­ni­ty part­ners, and tal­ent. Our new pilot at BNY has allowed us to scale up our car­bon diox­ide removal and stor­age process sev­er­al orders of mag­ni­tude, with us now deliv­er­ing on the off­sets we’ve sold, and demon­strat­ing that our process is safe and effec­tive at a mean­ing­ful scale,” said Vycarb Founder & CEO Gar­rett Boudinot.

The May­or Adams Administration’s Har­bor of the Future ini­tia­tive includes emerg­ing inno­va­tion cen­ters at the Hunts Point Pro­duce Mar­ket, Gov­er­nors Island, the Brook­lyn Navy Yard, the Sci­ence Park and Research Cam­pus in Kips Bay, and the North Shore of Stat­en Island. Most recent­ly, May­or Adams announced that the city will invest $100 mil­lion to cre­ate the ​“Cli­mate Inno­va­tion Hub” at the Brook­lyn Army Ter­mi­nal as a part of the city’s Green Econ­o­my Action Plan that will posi­tion New York­ers to ben­e­fit from near­ly 400,000 ​“green-col­lar” jobs by 2040. This new hub will serve as a home for clean tech inno­va­tion, man­u­fac­tur­ing and sup­port green tech­nol­o­gy star­tups — includ­ing sup­port­ing the Pilots at BAT program.

About The Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive
As out­lined in the Green Econ­o­my Action Plan, released by May­or Eric Adams in Feb­ru­ary of 2024, the plan’s vision is to estab­lish New York City as the glob­al cap­i­tal of cli­mate inno­va­tion through pilot­ing pro­grams, leas­es for office and lab space, work­force devel­op­ment invest­ments, and reg­u­la­to­ry wayfind­ing. At the heart of New York City’s bur­geon­ing cli­mate inno­va­tion ecosys­tem, The Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive will invest over $725 mil­lion to advance New York’s green econ­o­my in NYCEDC’s Sun­set Park dis­trict, the Brook­lyn Navy Yard, and on Gov­er­nors Island. By unlock­ing six mil­lion square feet of space, the Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive will sup­port the cre­ation of 5,000 per­ma­nent jobs, edu­cate and train 2,100 stu­dents, and gen­er­ate $55 bil­lion in eco­nom­ic impact.

Nov 12 9:49 am

New York City May­or Eric Adams, New York City School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty (SCA) Pres­i­dent and CEO Nina Kub­o­ta, New York City Pub­lic Schools Chan­cel­lor Melis­sa Aviles-Ramos, and Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Pres­i­dent and CEO Clare New­man broke ground on a major expan­sion of the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School on Gov­er­nors Island on Novem­ber 7, 2024. The expan­sion will allow the school to bet­ter pre­pare young New York­ers for good-pay­ing green jobs by dou­bling the school’s cam­pus from two to four build­ings and adding new class­rooms, a com­pe­ti­tion-sized pool and gym­na­si­um, and lab­o­ra­to­ries designed to sup­port the school’s dis­tinc­tive mar­itime and envi­ron­men­tal cur­ricu­lum. The announce­ment builds on May­or Adams’ efforts to devel­op a ​“Har­bor of the Future” – a mul­ti­fac­eted ini­tia­tive announced by May­or Adams in his State of the City this year to reimag­ine New York City’s water­front to fuel 21^st-cen­tu­ry growth and innovation.

“We’re laser-focused on prepar­ing young New York­ers for good-pay­ing jobs of the future, and this his­toric expan­sion of the Har­bor School will allow us to do just that,” said May­or Adams. ​“The addi­tion­al class­room and train­ing space will help us ensure that our kids ben­e­fit from the 400,000 green jobs our city will host by 2040. Har­bor School grad­u­ates will work on the wind tur­bines that will pow­er 500,000 homes in our city, invent green tech­nolo­gies that we can’t even imag­ine yet, and more.”

“From the New York Cli­mate Exchange to the expan­sion of the Har­bor School, Gov­er­nors Island is proof of New York City’s lead­er­ship in cli­mate tech­nol­o­gy and edu­ca­tion,” said First Deputy May­or Maria Tor­res-Springer. ​“The Har­bor School’s new facil­i­ties – and Gov­er­nors Island more broad­ly – con­tin­ue to show­case how edu­ca­tion, research, and indus­tri­al devel­op­ment func­tion togeth­er to bring good jobs to the five bor­oughs for the expand­ing cli­mate tech industry.”

“We say kids are ​‘inter­net natives’ – smarter and bet­ter versed than the rest of us on the way mod­ern tech­nol­o­gy works,” said Deputy May­or for Oper­a­tions Meera Joshi. ​“Well, they’re going to be ​‘cli­mate change natives’ too – bet­ter pre­pared than any gen­er­a­tion pri­or to take on the real­i­ties and chal­lenges of cli­mate change with the urgency it requires. That is in part thanks to inno­v­a­tive part­ner­ships like the Har­bor School, which will soon accom­mo­date more kids to learn in nature’s class­room. Thanks to the School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty, the Trust For Gov­er­nors Island, and all our part­ners for mak­ing a high-qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion cen­ter­ing this vital life skill a reality.”

“The expan­sion of the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School rep­re­sents a bold step for­ward in our mis­sion to pro­vide stu­dents with unique, hands-on edu­ca­tion­al expe­ri­ences that pre­pare them for suc­cess­ful futures,” said New York City Pub­lic Schools Chan­cel­lor Melis­sa Aviles-Ramos. ​“By dou­bling the cam­pus size and enhanc­ing the school’s facil­i­ties, we are not only enrich­ing the aca­d­e­m­ic jour­ney but also fos­ter­ing the next gen­er­a­tion of envi­ron­men­tal lead­ers and mar­itime experts right here in New York City.”

“We’re proud to improve and build on the orig­i­nal vision for the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School and look for­ward to see­ing how the expand­ed cam­pus will empow­er these excep­tion­al stu­dents to learn and expand their envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship,” said SCA Pres­i­dent and CEO Kub­o­ta. ​“Thanks to a strong col­lab­o­ra­tion between the SCA, New York City Pub­lic Schools, and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, this expan­sion will enable the school to serve even more stu­dents while becom­ing a valu­able resource for the broad­er community.”

“The Har­bor School is one of the gems of New York City, pro­vid­ing top notch edu­ca­tion and prepar­ing our next gen­er­a­tion of New York­ers in impor­tant indus­tries like mar­itime and the green econ­o­my,” said New York City Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion Pres­i­dent and CEO Andrew Kim­ball. ​“This expand­ed cam­pus will build on the ongo­ing suc­cess of the Har­bor School, and we look for­ward to these young peo­ple join­ing the work­force that will pow­er our ​‘Har­bor of the Future’ and careers across the five boroughs.”

“Today marks a tru­ly excit­ing moment in New York City’s growth as a leader in cli­mate solu­tions – over the past 14 years, thou­sands of young New York­ers have had trans­for­ma­tion­al edu­ca­tion­al expe­ri­ences on Gov­er­nors Island, using the Har­bor as a liv­ing class­room and receiv­ing high-qual­i­ty career train­ing in mar­itime and envi­ron­men­tal fields,” said Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Pres­i­dent and CEO Clare New­man. ​“We are proud to col­lab­o­rate with our part­ners at the School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty and New York City Pub­lic Schools to devel­op these new, state-of-the-art facil­i­ties, which will serve to expand oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents and empow­er the envi­ron­men­tal lead­ers of tomorrow.”

The Har­bor School pro­vides a col­lege prepara­to­ry edu­ca­tion built upon New York City’s mar­itime expe­ri­ence with a focus on envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship. With its part­ners – includ­ing the Bil­lion Oys­ter Project – the school devel­ops authen­tic activ­i­ties for its stu­dents on, around, and relat­ed to the water that cre­ates a sense of respon­si­bil­i­ty to New York Har­bor and devel­op a new gen­er­a­tion of mar­itime advo­cates, enthu­si­asts, work­ers, and deci­sion-mak­ers. The expan­sion includes the con­struc­tion of a new, state-of-the-art facil­i­ty that will fea­ture a pool, gym­na­si­um, and addi­tion­al lab space ded­i­cat­ed to career-tech­ni­cal train­ing and research. The SCA will also ren­o­vate Build­ing 555 – a des­ig­nat­ed land­mark struc­ture built in 1938 – to cre­ate 32,000 square feet of addi­tion­al class­room space. Togeth­er, these projects will expand the school’s facil­i­ties from two to four build­ings and add 445 new seats, sup­port­ed by fund­ing from the New York City Coun­cil and the Man­hat­tan Bor­ough Pres­i­den­t’s Office.

Today’s announce­ment builds on the Adams admin­is­tra­tion’s ongo­ing efforts to devel­op New York Har­bor as the heart of the city’s green econ­o­my. In April 2023, May­or Adams and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island unveiled the New York Cli­mate Exchange, a trans­for­ma­tive vision for a first-in-the-nation cli­mate research, edu­ca­tion, and jobs hub on Gov­er­nors Island that will cre­ate thou­sands of per­ma­nent jobs and $1 bil­lion in eco­nom­ic impact for the city. A cross-sec­tor con­sor­tium led by Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty, the Exchange will cre­ate a state-of-the-art, $700-mil­lion, 400,000-square-foot cam­pus ded­i­cat­ed to research­ing and devel­op­ing inno­v­a­tive cli­mate solu­tions that will be scaled across New York City and the world and that will equip New York­ers to hold the green jobs of the future. Open­ing in 2028, the New York Cli­mate Exchange will be ded­i­cat­ed to edu­ca­tion­al pro­gram­ming, research, cli­mate tech incu­ba­tion, and pol­i­cy work aimed at advanc­ing cli­mate action in New York City and else­where around the world.

Addi­tion­al­ly, in Feb­ru­ary 2024, May­or Adams announced an up to $100 mil­lion invest­ment in the Cli­mate Inno­va­tion Hub at Brook­lyn Army Ter­mi­nal, part of the admin­is­tra­tion’s Green Econ­o­my Action Plan designed to help New York City host near­ly 400,000 green jobs by 2040. This new space will accel­er­ate com­mer­cial­iza­tion path­ways for cli­mate tech star­tups and oth­er green econ­o­my busi­ness­es. It will serve 150 star­tups over 10 years – gen­er­at­ing $2.6 bil­lion in eco­nom­ic impact and cre­at­ing 600 jobs – while pro­vid­ing local work­force train­ing and job place­ment, par­tic­u­lar­ly for the local Sun­set Park community.

Fur­ther­more, in June 2024, May­or Adams broke ground on what will be the nation’s largest ded­i­cat­ed off­shore wind port at the South Brook­lyn Marine Ter­mi­nal in Sun­set Park, Brook­lyn. The project will accel­er­ate the clean ener­gy tran­si­tion, make New York City syn­ony­mous with off­shore wind, advance progress toward the state’s Cli­mate Lead­er­ship and Com­mu­ni­ty Pro­tec­tion Act goal to devel­op 9,000 megawatts of off­shore wind by 2035, and cre­ate a new indus­try with thou­sands of ​‘green-col­lar’ jobs on site and in the sup­ply chain. 

“The Har­bor School is a resource as unique and spe­cial as Gov­er­nors Island itself,” said New York State Sen­a­tor Andrew Gounardes. ​“This new expan­sion gives stu­dents even more oppor­tu­ni­ties to learn, play sports, and study our city’s nat­ur­al ecosys­tems in a one-of-kind envi­ron­ment. I’m glad to see oppor­tu­ni­ties for young peo­ple grow on Gov­er­nors Island, and I’m grate­ful to May­or Adams and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island for mak­ing this possible.”

“We are com­mit­ted to open­ing all career paths for our chil­dren, and our his­toric expan­sion of the New York Har­bor School will give us a new arse­nal of tools to pre­pare them for good-pay­ing mar­itime careers,” said New York State Assem­bly­mem­ber Jenifer Rajku­mar. ​“New class space, lab­o­ra­to­ries, and oth­er facil­i­ties will allow stu­dents to immerse them­selves in this unique and excit­ing field. The expan­sion is part of our ​‘Har­bor of the Future’ plan, which will trans­form our water­front into a mod­ern hub of eco­nom­ic growth and inno­va­tion, gen­er­at­ing $95 bil­lion in eco­nom­ic activ­i­ty. We are chart­ing a course to sus­tain­able, inno­v­a­tive water­ways address­ing the needs of New Yorkers.”

Oct 25 5:10 pm

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island offers unique oppor­tu­ni­ties for inno­va­tors to test ear­ly-stage cli­mate prod­ucts and ser­vices in a real-world envi­ron­ment. Select­ed pilot­ing projects uti­lize Gov­er­nors Island’s built, social, and nat­ur­al envi­ron­ments – includ­ing a 2.2‑mile water­front, 43-acre cli­mate resilient park, 7 miles of car-free streets, and 50+ his­toric build­ings – to accel­er­ate cli­mate inno­va­tion, eco­nom­ic oppor­tu­ni­ty, and social impact in diverse urban communities.

2025 Chal­lenge Theme: Cir­cu­lar Economy

Prob­lem:

New York­ers pro­duce near­ly 4 mil­lion tons of res­i­den­tial waste and anoth­er 4 mil­lion tons of com­mer­cial waste every year. More than half of New York City’s sol­id waste con­sists of con­struc­tion and demo­li­tion mate­ri­als. Today, NYC diverts about 20 per­cent of sol­id waste from land­fills and has com­mit­ted to send zero waste to land­fills by 2030. This waste stream dri­ves green­house gas emis­sions across its life cycle, from the extrac­tion of raw mate­ri­als to its trans­porta­tion and dis­pos­al. Waste trans­fer sta­tions in many cities are in locat­ed in envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice com­mu­ni­ties, con­tribut­ing to long­stand­ing air pol­lu­tion. Shift­ing to a cir­cu­lar econ­o­my that reuses, refur­bish­es, and recov­ers all kinds of mate­ri­als, reduces waste truck­ing, and min­i­mizes land­fill waste and embod­ied car­bon is key to achiev­ing an equi­table, net-zero city.

Chal­lenge:

How can cir­cu­lar econ­o­my prod­ucts and solu­tions dri­ve down the cli­mate impact of the urban waste stream and extend resource recov­ery to our busi­ness­es and neighborhoods?

Inno­va­tion Tracks:

• Low-car­bon and cir­cu­lar con­struc­tion prod­ucts, includ­ing healthy materials.
• Prod­ucts using resources that are recov­ered from the urban waste stream.
• Prod­ucts and ser­vices that reduce con­struc­tion and demo­li­tion waste by extend­ing the use­ful life of exist­ing sys­tems and mak­ing more effi­cient use of new materials.
• Mea­sure­ment tools and ser­vices that accel­er­ate diver­sion from land­fill and reduce sol­id waste.

To learn more and apply by the Decem­ber 5, 2024, dead­line, vis­it gov​is​land​.org/​c​h​a​l​lenge.

Oct 23 9:53 am

New York City-based artists and col­lec­tives (of up to four peo­ple) are invit­ed to sub­mit ideas for an ice sculp­ture, to be com­plet­ed at the fourth annu­al Gov­er­nors Island Ice Sculp­ture Show, pre­sent­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 8, 2025. The theme of this year’s com­pe­ti­tion is Gov­er­nors Island + Nature. Appli­cants are encour­aged to think out­side the box and share with us a cre­ative inter­pre­ta­tion of this theme.

Ten pro­pos­als will be select­ed to par­tic­i­pate in the live carv­ing event. Select­ed appli­cants or teams will receive an award of $2,000 to par­tic­i­pate, and will be pro­vid­ed with tools, pro­duc­tion mate­ri­als, and will be matched with a pro­fes­sion­al ice carv­er to com­plete the work on the day of the event. The dead­line to sub­mit pro­pos­als is Sun­day, Novem­ber 17, 2024.

Click here to learn more and apply by Novem­ber 17, 2024.

Impor­tant Dates

• Dead­line to apply: Sun­day, Novem­ber 17, 2024 at 11:59pm
• Select­ed appli­cants to be noti­fied: Mon­day, Novem­ber 25, 2024. Note: Select­ed appli­cants must accept invi­ta­tion to par­tic­i­pate by Wednes­day, Novem­ber 27, 2024
• In-per­son ori­en­ta­tion: Date TBD. Appli­cants should plan to be avail­able on week­days between Feb­ru­ary 3 – 7, 2025
• Event date: Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 8, 2025 (Rain Date: Sun­day, Feb­ru­ary 9, 2025)

Appli­cant & Project Eligibility

• Artists of all back­grounds and dis­ci­plines are encour­aged to pro­pose a design for an ice sculpture.
• Appli­cants will need to be com­fort­able and able to oper­ate pow­er tools (with instruc­tion) and lift ice and heavy objects dur­ing the event. Appli­cants will be under the coun­cil of a pro­fes­sion­al ice sculptor.
• Appli­cants can sub­mit inde­pen­dent­ly or work as a team. Each select­ed work will receive a sin­gle award of $2,000.
• Appli­cants need to be avail­able for an in-per­son ori­en­ta­tion week­day between Feb­ru­ary 3 – 7, 2025
• Appli­cants should pro­pose a work based on the use of a clear ice block sized approx­i­mate­ly 40” x 20” x 9”. Please make sure to detail dimen­sions when sub­mit­ting any sketch­es or renderings
• The work does not need to remain in block dimen­sions. It will be con­struct­ed with ice carv­ing tools allow­ing it to be cut, remold­ed, and shaped to vary­ing dimensions.
• Please note that any addi­tion­al mate­ri­als required for the pro­posed design, not out­lined above, should be sup­plied by the artist.

Pub­lic Event & Selection

• Sculp­tures will be carved in a two-hour pub­lic event on Gov­er­nors Island, from 12pm – 2pm on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 8, 2025 (Rain date on Sun­day, Feb­ru­ary 9, 2025).
• Ten projects will be select­ed noti­fied by Mon­day, Novem­ber 25, 2024. Select­ed appli­cants will need to accept invi­ta­tions by Wednes­day, Novem­ber 27, 2025
• Win­ning sub­mis­sions will be announced and pub­lished online by Jan­u­ary 2025.
• Appli­cants will be required to be on site on Gov­er­nors Island start­ing at 10am on the day of the show (Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 8, 2025. Rain date on Sun­day, Feb­ru­ary 9, 2025).
• The carved sculp­tures will remain on view on Gov­er­nors Island until they melt.

Sep 30 10:06 am

We are thrilled to share an excit­ing update: effec­tive Novem­ber 1, 2024, the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island will become the Gov­er­nors Island Foun­da­tion.

For over two decades, the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island (for­mer­ly Gov­er­nors Island Alliance) has been instru­men­tal in advo­cat­ing for and nur­tur­ing the Island’s growth as a cher­ished pub­lic des­ti­na­tion for New York­ers. As we con­tin­ue to ful­fill our mis­sion and work towards real­iz­ing the Island’s full poten­tial, we have set ambi­tious goals to enhance our park, expand our arts and cul­ture pro­grams, estab­lish a pre­mier cen­ter for research and edu­ca­tion on cli­mate change, and advance projects that boost vis­i­tor ameni­ties and his­toric preser­va­tion.

As the ded­i­cat­ed fundrais­ing part­ner to the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, the Gov­er­nors Island Foun­da­tion will sup­port these goals by focus­ing on secur­ing phil­an­thropic sup­port to fur­ther strength­en the Island as a vibrant resource for all New York­ers. Under this new struc­ture, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and Gov­er­nors Island Foun­da­tion will work more close­ly than ever to sus­tain our mis­sion and programs.

We are enthu­si­as­tic about this new chap­ter that will sup­port our con­tin­ued efforts in stew­ard­ing one of New York City’s most trea­sured spaces. If you have any ques­tions, please feel free to reach out to us at info@​govisland.​org.

Sep 24 9:18 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island announced today the open­ing of its 2025 open call for the sea­son­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram. Pre­sent­ed through Gov­er­nors Island Arts, the pro­gram offers an excit­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty for arts and cul­tur­al non­prof­its to share their work with the pub­lic and advance their mis­sions in a set­ting unlike any­where else in New York City. Start­ing today, New York-based orga­ni­za­tions are invit­ed to sub­mit an appli­ca­tion to present exhi­bi­tions and pub­lic pro­grams in his­toric spaces on Gov­er­nors Island between May and Octo­ber 2025. Select­ed orga­ni­za­tions will receive space free of charge in the his­toric for­mer mil­i­tary hous­es in Nolan Park and in Colonels Row.

“We are excit­ed for anoth­er year of invit­ing our city’s non­prof­it arts and cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ty to cre­ate on Gov­er­nors Island,” said Lau­ren Haynes, Head Cura­tor, Gov­er­nors Island Arts and Vice Pres­i­dent at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“The Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram and the myr­i­ad artists and cul­tur­al prac­ti­tion­ers that par­tic­i­pate each year help to breathe new life into the Island’s his­toric spaces while pro­vid­ing thought-pro­vok­ing exhi­bi­tions, instal­la­tions, work­shops, and pub­lic pro­grams for the Island’s near­ly one mil­lion annu­al visitors.”

Reflect­ing the diver­si­ty of New York City, Gov­er­nors Island Arts’ sea­son­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence present an incred­i­ble range of dynam­ic pro­gram­ming to Gov­er­nors Island vis­i­tors each year. They join a col­lab­o­ra­tive Island com­mu­ni­ty of lead­ing cul­tur­al groups from across New York, who present pro­grams in the fields of visu­al and per­form­ing arts, his­to­ry, archi­tec­ture and design, cli­mate change, ecol­o­gy, sus­tain­abil­i­ty, and more. Togeth­er, the Island’s res­i­dent orga­ni­za­tions hold more than 100 free, pub­lic exhi­bi­tions and out­door projects each year, as well as pro­vide stu­dios and work­space to hun­dreds of artists, writ­ers, researchers, and oth­er cul­tur­al practitioners.

Recent orga­ni­za­tions select­ed as part of this pro­gram have includ­ed the New York Latin Amer­i­can Art Tri­en­ni­al, Amer­i­can Indi­an Com­mu­ni­ty House, Art­Crawl Harlem, BronxArt­Space, Stat­en Island Urban Cen­ter, the West Harlem Art Fund, Low­er East­side Girls Club, Foun­tain House Gallery, Flux Fac­to­ry, the Muse­um of Con­tem­po­rary African Dias­po­ran Art (MoCA­DA), Filmshop, New York Arts Pro­gram, New Art Deal­ers Alliance (NADA), Tai­wanese Amer­i­can Arts Coun­cil, Res­i­den­cy Unlim­it­ed, and the Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um, among many others. 

The full appli­ca­tion is avail­able at www​.gov​is​land​.org/​p​e​rmits. Appli­ca­tions will be accept­ed through Octo­ber 20, 2024, and appli­cants will be noti­fied by Novem­ber 11, 2024.

Appli­ca­tions will be eval­u­at­ed based on the over­all qual­i­ty of the pro­posed pro­gram; fit and align­ment with the Island’s dynam­ic arts, cul­tur­al and edu­ca­tion­al pro­gram­ming; track record of con­cep­tu­al­iz­ing, pro­duc­ing, and orga­niz­ing oth­er pro­grams and events; com­mit­ment to con­nect­ing with diverse audi­ences; and engage­ment with the Island as a site, includ­ing its his­to­ry, ecol­o­gy, archi­tec­ture, and rela­tion­ship to the rest of New York City.

Sep 19 12:19 pm

In an excit­ing step for­ward in Gov­er­nors Island’s sus­tain­abil­i­ty efforts, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and EV charg­ing start­up its­e­lec­tric announced today a new part­ner­ship to install com­pact, curb­side vehi­cle charg­ing tech­nol­o­gy on the Island, allow­ing the Trust to move towards a zero-emis­sions fleet of oper­a­tions vehi­cles and pro­vid­ing a mod­el for low-impact curb­side charg­ing in cities around the world. 

“From urban air qual­i­ty mon­i­tor­ing to com­pact aquapon­ic sys­tems, we are proud to show­case inno­v­a­tive tech­nol­o­gy that will help cities and their res­i­dents fight cli­mate change,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“This new part­ner­ship with its­e­lec­tric is the per­fect exam­ple of what’s pos­si­ble here on Gov­er­nors Island, enabling us to mod­ern­ize our fleet of oper­a­tions vehi­cles while dra­mat­i­cal­ly cut­ting our emis­sions and demon­strat­ing the excit­ing future of cli­mate solu­tions for New York City and cities around the world.” 

“Our part­ner­ship with the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island is a tes­ta­ment to the way enti­ties of any size can lead progress toward decar­boniza­tion through break­ing down bar­ri­ers to EV adop­tion,” said Judy Chang, Project Direc­tor at its­e­lec­tric. ​“We’re proud to bring our sleek urban charg­ers, deploy­able in just days, to the Island in sup­port of its tran­si­tion to an all-elec­tric oper­a­tions fleet, mak­ing the air even clean­er for every­one who vis­its. This col­lab­o­ra­tion reflects our mis­sion to address press­ing cli­mate chal­lenges by lever­ag­ing exist­ing infra­struc­ture in any urban envi­ron­ment — from a 172-acre, car-free island to the biggest cities in the country.” 

Empire State Devel­op­ment Pres­i­dent, CEO and Com­mis­sion­er Hope Knight said, ​“Empire State Development’s $500,000 seed invest­ment in ​‘it’s elec­tric’ through NY Ven­tures is already bear­ing fruit, as evi­denced by this excit­ing deploy­ment on Gov­er­nors Island. By back­ing inno­v­a­tive cli­mate tech­nolo­gies like their com­pact charg­ing sta­tions at an ear­ly stage, we’re not only pow­er­ing the island’s elec­tric fleet but also dri­ving for­ward New York’s com­mit­ment to clean ener­gy. This project rep­re­sents promis­ing progress since our ini­tial invest­ment, and we hope it’s just the first of many future deploy­ments across New York State.”

Gov­er­nors Island is one of New York City’s most unique pub­lic places, with sev­en miles of car-free streets and path­ways allow­ing for safe recre­ation­al oppor­tu­ni­ties and pro­vid­ing a bucol­ic atmos­phere for a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of year-round ten­ants and sea­son­al part­ners. The Trust main­tains a small fleet of vehi­cles to allow staff to effec­tive­ly care for the Island’s 120 acres of open space and is com­mit­ted to pri­or­i­tiz­ing elec­tric vehi­cles to help move to net-zero oper­a­tions. To sup­port these goals, its­e­lec­tric will install five of its Level‑2 charg­ing posts across the Island and inside the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing fer­ry ter­mi­nal for oper­a­tional use. This unique tech­nol­o­gy con­nects behind-the-meter to draw spare elec­tri­cal sup­ply from adja­cent build­ings, lever­ag­ing exist­ing resources and pro­vid­ing a mod­el for wide­spread instal­la­tion. its­e­lec­tric charg­ing posts have pre­vi­ous­ly been installed in Brook­lyn, New York, Detroit, Michi­gan, with a crit­i­cal focus on front­line and Jus­tice 40 com­mu­ni­ties to bring afford­able, equi­table, curb­side EV charg­ing to city dri­vers across the Unit­ed States. 

Today’s announce­ment is the lat­est in Gov­er­nors Island’s recent progress towards wide­spread zero-emis­sions trans­porta­tion infra­struc­ture. In March 2023, New York City May­or Eric Adams and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island announced that the Island would be home to New York City’s first pub­lic, hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry, which is sched­uled to begin ser­vice lat­er this year. Fol­low­ing that announce­ment, New York City was award­ed a $7.48 mil­lion grant from the US Fed­er­al Tran­sit Admin­is­tra­tion to sup­port shore­side rapid charg­ing infra­struc­ture on Gov­er­nors Island, which will enable the Island’s new hybrid elec­tric fer­ry to oper­ate 100% elec­tric with bat­tery-only propulsion. 

This tech­nol­o­gy joins sev­er­al oth­er inno­va­tions cur­rent­ly being demon­strat­ed on Gov­er­nors Island, includ­ing indoor aquapon­ic farm­ing (GrowNYC), com­mu­ni­ty sci­ence air qual­i­ty mon­i­tor­ing (South Bronx Unite), decen­tral­ized car­bon mon­i­tor­ing and mit­i­ga­tion (Vycarb), and post-con­sumer plas­tic recy­cling and repur­pos­ing (Cir­cu­lar Econ­o­my Man­u­fac­tur­ing). Through its cli­mate pilot­ing pro­gram, the Trust offers the unique oppor­tu­ni­ty for star­tups, small busi­ness­es, non­prof­its, and entre­pre­neurs to test cli­mate solu­tions that address mit­i­ga­tion, adap­ta­tion, and envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice. Solu­tions select­ed through the Trust’s inau­gur­al Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge ear­li­er this year include urban sea­weed farm­ing (Sea­weed City), liv­ing shore­line con­struc­tion and cli­mate work­force devel­op­ment (RETI Cen­ter), coastal infra­struc­ture retro­fitting (Object Ter­ri­to­ries), decen­tral­ized point-of-use grey­wa­ter treat­ment (LAERO), mod­u­lar wet­land sys­tems (Just EcoC­i­ties), and IoT envi­ron­men­tal mon­i­tor­ing (Duro UAS). For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/​c​l​imate.

With a unique water­front cam­pus envi­ron­ment; an award-win­ning park engi­neered for cli­mate change; a diverse and engaged audi­ence of near­ly one mil­lion vis­i­tors every year; cli­mate pilot­ing and edu­ca­tion oppor­tu­ni­ties; a col­lec­tion of pub­lic art­works engag­ing direct­ly with cli­mate issues; and a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of edu­ca­tion­al, non­prof­it, and com­mer­cial ten­ants — includ­ing Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, Beam Cen­ter, Wind Sup­port NYC, the soon-to-open But­ter­milk Labs, and The New York Cli­mate Exchange — Gov­er­nors Island is at the fore­front of research­ing and demon­strat­ing cli­mate solu­tions built for cities. 

Gov­er­nors Island is open to the pub­lic dai­ly year-round and is acces­si­ble by fer­ry from Man­hat­tan and Brook­lyn. For cur­rent fer­ry sched­ules, oper­at­ing hours, and oth­er vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/​p​l​a​n​-​y​o​u​r​-​visit.

Sep 5 12:37 pm

Gov­er­nors Island Arts today announced a sched­ule of free pro­gram­ming and exhi­bi­tions for the Island’s fall sea­son, includ­ing the con­tin­u­a­tion of the INTER­VEN­TIONS per­for­mance series with works by Inua Ellams and Lenio Kak­lea along with new exhi­bi­tions from the New Art Deal­ers Alliance (NADA), Escap­ing Time: Art from U.S. Pris­ons, and oth­er NYC-based non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions. This fall also marks the last chance to vis­it Jen­ny Kendler’s Oth­er of Pearl, pre­sent­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts and Nat­ur­al Resources Defense Coun­cil (NRDC), which is on view inside Fort Jay Fri­day-Sun­day through Novem­ber 3. 

“There is so much to dis­cov­er on Gov­er­nors Island, whether you’re com­ing to see — and even par­tic­i­pate in — a per­for­mance that’s in direct con­ver­sa­tion with our land­scapes, to explore our his­toric hous­es and the incred­i­ble orga­ni­za­tions with­in them, or to dis­cov­er our col­lec­tion of one-of-a-kind pub­lic art­works,” said Lau­ren Haynes, Head Cura­tor, Gov­er­nors Island Arts and Vice Pres­i­dent at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“We are thrilled to con­tin­ue to spot­light our amaz­ing cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ty as the sea­sons change and can’t wait to wel­come you to the Island this fall.”

INTER­VEN­TIONS Per­for­mance Series
Through this site-respon­sive, mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary annu­al per­for­mance series, Gov­er­nors Island Arts presents local, nation­al, and inter­na­tion­al artists and invites audi­ences to expe­ri­ence work made and adapt­ed for the out­doors. INTER­VEN­TIONS con­tin­ues this fall with Search Par­ty, award-win­ning poet and inter­na­tion­al­ly acclaimed play­wright Inua Ellams’s spon­ta­neous per­for­mance event, and Anal­phabètes, a dance piece by Lenio Kak­lea and co-pre­sent­ed with L’Alliance New York. 

SEARCH PAR­TY Inua Ellams
Sep­tem­ber 20, 7:30pm
Sep­tem­ber 21, 2:15 pm & 7:30pm
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS »

Prompt­ed by audi­ence sug­ges­tion and open con­ver­sa­tion, Inua Ellams search­es through his archive, unearths refined or raw gold, and presents his trea­sure in this spon­ta­neous per­for­mance — an act of call and response that hear­kens back to the birth of sto­ry­telling. At this unique­ly futur­is­tic and espe­cial­ly chaot­ic inter­ac­tive event — its first ever out­door iter­a­tion — the artist could­n’t be more present.

ANAL­PHABÈTES Lenio Kak­lea
Octo­ber 5, 12pm, 2pm & 4pm
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS »

Greek-born and Paris-based chore­o­g­ra­ph­er Lenio Kak­lea designed this piece as a response to phys­i­cal land­scape. Con­sist­ing of three dis­tinct lev­els of spec­ta­tor­ship — near, far, and very far away — the per­for­mance blends envi­ron­ment with chore­o­graph­ic image, cre­at­ing a struc­ture that orga­nizes the audience’s visu­al expe­ri­ence. On Gov­er­nors Island, the piece will be per­formed and reimag­ined by local dancers and built in direct response to its envi­ron­ment. Co-Pre­sent­ed with L’Alliance New York as part of Cross­ing the Line Festival

Pre­vi­ous per­for­mances pre­sent­ed as part of INTER­VEN­TIONS include works by Modesto ​“Flako” Jimenez, Indige­nous Enter­prise, Dance Hegin­both­am, and Rena Anakwe. INTER­VEN­TIONS is curat­ed by Juan Pablo Siles, Asso­ciate Cura­tor and Pro­duc­er at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. 

Orga­ni­za­tions in Residence

Each year, two dozen arts, cul­ture, edu­ca­tion­al, and envi­ron­men­tal non­prof­its uti­lize space inside the his­toric hous­es of Nolan Park and Colonels Row to present a robust cal­en­dar of free pub­lic pro­grams, host artist res­i­den­cies, and engage vis­i­tors in spe­cial activ­i­ties for all ages through­out the sum­mer months. Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence are open every Fri­day, Sat­ur­day, and Sun­day from 11am to 5pm through the end of October. 

Orga­ni­za­tions join­ing the cur­rent group of non­prof­its in Nolan Park and Colonels Row for the fall sea­son include New Art Deal­ers Alliance (NADA) and Escap­ing Time: Art from U.S. Pris­ons, along with sev­er­al new exhi­bi­tions and events from the cur­rent Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence. NADA will present the sixth edi­tion of NADA House, bring­ing togeth­er 17 exhibitors from around the world pre­sent­ing 21 artists, with par­tic­i­pants engag­ing the unique char­ac­ter of the house’s his­toric space and exhibit­ing work in a diverse range of medi­ums. Escap­ing Time will exhib­it and sell art­works cre­at­ed with­in prison walls nation­wide, work­ing to dis­rupt the stereo­type soci­ety imag­ines when think­ing about the incarcerated. 

CLICK HERE TO MEET ALL OF THIS YEAR’S ORGA­NI­ZA­TIONS IN RESIDENCE »

Pub­lic Art Commissions

Jen­ny Kendler’s Oth­er of Pearl, pre­sent­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts and NRDC, will debut new fall hours begin­ning Sep­tem­ber 9, 2024 — the piece will be open Fri­day-Sun­day from 10am-5pm through Novem­ber 3, 2024. Locat­ed in the his­toric Fort Jay, Oth­er of Pearl fea­tures a series of sev­en inti­mate, del­i­cate works that con­front con­tem­po­rary envi­ron­men­tal issues — ocean noise, chem­i­cal pol­lu­tion, cli­mate change and sea lev­el rise — while call­ing atten­tion to the extrac­tive his­to­ries that form the ori­gin sto­ries of our cli­mate crisis. 

There are cur­rent­ly sev­en addi­tion­al tem­po­rary and long-term pub­lic art­works on dis­play through­out Gov­er­nors Island’s park and his­toric land­scapes, includ­ing Sheila Berger’s BIRD MMXXI­II, Sam Van Aken’s The Open Orchard, Duke Riley’s Not for Nut­ten, Mark Dion’s The Field Sta­tion of the Melan­choly Marine Biol­o­gist, Shantell Martin’s Church, Rachel Whiteread’s Cab­in, and Mark Handforth’s Yan­kee Hang­er.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL PUB­LIC ART COMMISSIONS »

Gov­er­nors Island Arts presents its pro­gram­ming with the vision­ary sup­port of the Ford Foun­da­tion, as well the Mel­lon Foun­da­tion, the Cha­ri­na Endow­ment Fund, Don­ald R. Mullen Fam­i­ly Foun­da­tion, Stavros Niar­chos Foun­da­tion, Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies, The Gottes­man Fund, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, the Nation­al Endow­ment for the Arts, and the New York State Coun­cil on the Arts with the sup­port of the Office of the Gov­er­nor and the New York State Legislature.

Pho­to cred­its, L to R: Inua Ellams by Myah Jef­fers, cour­tesy the artist; Whale Bells, 2023, by Andrew Bearnot & Jen­ny Kendler as fea­tured in Kendler’s ​“Oth­er of Pearl,” art­work cour­tesy the artist and the Tar­ble Arts Cen­ter and pho­to by Juli­enne Schaer; Anal­pha­betes, pho­to cour­tesy L’Al­liance New York; and Escap­ing Time: Art from U.S. Pris­ons 2023 exhi­bi­tion, pho­to by Juli­enne Schaer.

Aug 21 10:51 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and The New York Cli­mate Exchange announced today a sched­ule of more than 35 Cli­mate Week activ­i­ties tak­ing place on Gov­er­nors Island. Fea­tured cli­mate-focused pro­grams include guid­ed sus­tain­abil­i­ty tours, film screen­ings, tech show­cas­es, writ­ing and sto­ry­telling work­shops, and more. Events announced today high­light Gov­er­nors Island’s trans­for­ma­tion as a grow­ing resource for research and inno­va­tion in equi­table cli­mate solu­tions for New York City and the world.

“Our admin­is­tra­tion is set­ting the pace in the fight against cli­mate change, acti­vat­ing $725 mil­lion in pub­lic invest­ments to sup­port the Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive, build­ing out our work­force to host 400,000 green jobs by 2040, and launch­ing the Cli­mate Exchange on Gov­er­nors Island in the mid­dle of New York Har­bor,” said Deputy May­or for Hous­ing, Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment and Work­force Maria Tor­res-Springer. ​“I am excit­ed to see this robust week of pro­gram­ming from the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and the New York Cli­mate Exchange to pre­view the inno­v­a­tive resources, events, and cur­ricu­lum that will be brought to the island through this once-in-a-gen­er­a­tion partnership.”

“Each year, Cli­mate Week NYC offers a remark­able oppor­tu­ni­ty to wit­ness first­hand how New York City is lead­ing the fight against cli­mate change and build­ing a stronger, more equi­table, and more resilient city,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Our cal­en­dar of events — Gov­er­nors Island’s biggest Cli­mate Week offer­ing to date — high­lights pro­gram­ming from the Trust, the Exchange, and the vibrant com­mu­ni­ty of cli­mate-focused ten­ants and part­ners here on the Island, shin­ing a light on this extra­or­di­nary space’s evo­lu­tion as a hub for urban cli­mate solutions.” 

“Cli­mate Week NYC attracts a glob­al audi­ence, and I’m excit­ed that this year we’re cre­at­ing a new ​“go-to” loca­tion and cli­mate week expe­ri­ence,” said Stephen Ham­mer, CEO of The New York Cli­mate Exchange. ​“Vis­i­tors can par­tic­i­pate in dis­cus­sions about the lat­est cli­mate pol­i­cy and finance dis­cus­sions, meet dozens of cli­mate tech entre­pre­neurs, and learn how inno­va­tors are try­ing to engage the pub­lic on cli­mate issues through an arts and cul­ture lens. Our pro­gram­ming will offer a sense of what we’ll do on a much big­ger scale once our full Gov­er­nors Island cam­pus is oper­a­tional in 2028.” 

In April 2023, May­or Eric Adams and the Trust announced The Exchange as the anchor research and edu­ca­tion­al part­ner for Gov­er­nors Island’s cli­mate ini­tia­tives. The Exchange, a new, 

non­prof­it ini­tia­tive estab­lished by Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty and a con­sor­tium of uni­ver­si­ties, busi­ness­es, and non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions, will cre­ate a state-of-the-art, $700-mil­lion cam­pus on Gov­er­nors Island. This facil­i­ty will be ded­i­cat­ed to edu­ca­tion­al pro­gram­ming, research, cli­mate tech incu­ba­tion, and pol­i­cy work aimed at advanc­ing cli­mate action in New York City and else­where around the world. The full cam­pus is sched­uled to open to the pub­lic in 2028, but Exchange pro­gram­ming has already launched on Gov­er­nors Island and around the city.

Cli­mate Week NYC 2024 events on Gov­er­nors Island are orga­nized by the Trust, the Island’s com­mu­ni­ty of part­ners and ten­ants, and The Exchange and its core part­ners. Events will take place across Gov­er­nors Island, includ­ing at a new com­mu­ni­ty con­ven­ing space inside the for­mer Our Lady Star of the Sea — a decon­se­crat­ed for­mer mil­i­tary chapel locat­ed in the Island’s His­toric Dis­trict that fea­tures Church, Shantell Martin’s pop­u­lar pub­lic art­work com­mis­sioned through Gov­er­nors Island Arts, on its façade. This his­toric build­ing has recent­ly under­gone upgrades to cre­ate an acces­si­ble indoor space for com­mu­ni­ty events on Gov­er­nors Island.

A full sched­ule of events and pre­sent­ing orga­ni­za­tions can be found below and online at www​.gov​is​land​.org/​c​l​i​m​a​t​e​-week, with more to be announced in the com­ing weeks. 

Cli­mate Week NYC on Gov­er­nors Island Schedule:

ONGO­ING: Oth­er of Pearl, Jen­ny Kendler Gov­er­nors Island Arts and NRDC (Nat­ur­al Resources Defense Coun­cil) Open Wednes­day-Sun­day through Octo­ber 31 in Fort Jay — Pub­lic art instal­la­tion that tells the sto­ry of the extrac­tive his­to­ries that form the ori­gin sto­ries of the cli­mate and envi­ron­men­tal cri­sis, while con­sid­er­ing the oys­ter and whale as cen­tral play­ers in an eco­log­i­cal entan­gle­ment between human and non­hu­man beings, water­ways, and flows of cap­i­tal. Through sev­en del­i­cate works, the artist con­fronts con­tem­po­rary envi­ron­men­tal issues — cli­mate change, ocean noise, chem­i­cal pol­lu­tion, bio­di­ver­si­ty loss, and sea lev­el rise — while point­ing towards the cul­tur­al struc­tures that have allowed these cat­a­stro­phes to occur.

ONGO­ING: Sari Carel: A More Per­fect Cir­cle, KODA Open Fri­day-Sun­day through Octo­ber 31 in Colonels Row Build­ing 407B — Artist and activist Sari Carel presents a series of ceram­ic sculp­tures inspired by the sin­gle-use cof­fee cup, uncov­er­ing a sense of pow­er­less­ness and con­flict about a choice at the cen­ter of a dai­ly rou­tine. This pub­lic art instal­la­tion explores what hap­pens to this item when tossed into the trash can, and why we take it for granted.

ONGO­ING: [SUN] Flower Waves, Har­vest­works Open Fri­day-Sun­day through Octo­ber 31 in Nolan Park Build­ing 10A — This dig­i­tal media instal­la­tion by Vic­to­ria Ves­na in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Wal­ter Gekel­man explores the har­mo­nious inter­ac­tion between sun­flow­ers and Alfvén waves, demon­strat­ing how art and sci­ence con­verge to reveal deep­er understandings.

Sep­tem­ber 21, 1 – 4PM: Play is Pow­er: Design Your Own Cli­mate Game, Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um Colonels Row Build­ing 406A — In this series of con­sec­u­tive, hour-long work­shops, par­tic­i­pants will be guid­ed step-by-step through the process of design­ing their very own Cli­mate Game: a table­top, role-play­ing, or out­door game that explores a cli­mate issue of their choosing. 

Sep­tem­ber 21, 10AM-12PM & 2 – 4PM: Melt­ing Metrop­o­lis & Com­mu­ni­ty Spon­sor Lab Walk, Well­come Trust & The New York Cli­mate Exchange

Sep­tem­ber 22, 1 – 3PM: Earth, Wind, and Water demon­stra­tion, Earth Mat­ter NY Urban Farm — Dis­cov­er the role organ­ic mat­ter plays in water reten­tion, ero­sion con­trol, and car­bon sequestration.

Sep­tem­ber 22, 1 – 4PM: Day of Action / Engage­ment, NYU & New York Cli­mate Exchange 

Sep­tem­ber 22, 2 – 2:30PM: Cli­mate Week Seed Col­lect­ing, The Bee Con­ser­van­cy Urban Farm — Col­lect seeds with the Bee Con­ser­van­cy at their Bee Sanc­tu­ary on Gov­er­nors Island’s Urban Farm — par­tic­i­pants will get seed col­lect­ing tips, learn about seed strat­i­fi­ca­tion and ger­mi­na­tion, and hear how cli­mate and its changes impact the bee and plant species on Gov­er­nors Island and beyond.

Sep­tem­ber 22 – 25, 5 – 7PM: Cli­mate Week Walk­ing Tours, Bil­lion Oys­ter Project Nolan Park Build­ing 16 — Join a Cli­mate Week walk­ing tour to explore Bil­lion Oys­ter Project’s vibrant efforts in restor­ing New York Har­bor’s oys­ter reefs and their impact on com­bat­ing cli­mate change.

Sep­tem­ber 23, 9 – 11AM: New Rec­om­men­da­tions for Cli­mate Actions in Cities from ARC3.3, Urban Cli­mate Change Research Net­work & New York Cli­mate Exchange (by invi­ta­tion only)

Sep­tem­ber 23, 12 – 3PM: Extreme Heat Sur­vival Through a Pub­lic Health Lens: Intro­duc­ing Project HEAT­WAVE (Part1), NYU & The New York Cli­mate Exchange (by invi­ta­tion only)

Sep­tem­ber 23, 3 – 4:30PM: Ready Set Act! An Eth­i­cal Frame­work for a Rapid­ly Chang­ing Cli­mate Com­mu­ni­ty, Amer­i­can Geo­phys­i­cal Union & New York Cli­mate Exchange (by invi­ta­tion only)

Sep­tem­ber 23, 5 – 7PM: Urban@UW’s Research to Action Col­lab­o­ra­to­ry, Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton & The New York Cli­mate Exchange (by invi­ta­tion only)

Sep­tem­ber 24, 10AM-1PM: Solu­tions to the Ener­gy Tran­si­tion Chal­lenges in the NYC Region, Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty & New York Cli­mate Exchange (by invi­ta­tion only)

Sep­tem­ber 24, 10AM-2PM: Adaptation(s) 2.0 Guid­ed Tours, Pratt Insti­tute Cen­ter for Cli­mate Adap­ta­tion Nolan Park Build­ing 14 — Guid­ed tour of exhi­bi­tions that spot­light dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives on cli­mate adap­ta­tion and strate­gies in arch­i­pel­a­gos — com­mu­ni­ties at the great­est risk and in need of find­ing liv­able solu­tions for future cli­mate change. 

Sep­tem­ber 24, 3 – 5:30PM: Charg­ing Ahead: Glob­al Strate­gies for Bus Elec­tri­fi­ca­tion, Crux Alliance & The New York Cli­mate Exchange

Sep­tem­ber 24, 4 – 6PM: IA Island(ing) Adap­ta­tions Dis­cus­sion, Pratt Insti­tute Cen­ter for Cli­mate Adap­ta­tion Admiral’s House — Pan­el dis­cus­sion bring­ing togeth­er rep­re­sen­ta­tion from high lev­el gov­ern­ment offi­cials, inno­v­a­tive design­ers, finan­cial lead­ers, and pol­i­cy mak­ers. Par­tic­i­pants will share their per­spec­tives and engage one anoth­er and the audi­ence in dis­cus­sion through a mod­er­at­ed dis­cus­sion and a Q&A.

Sep­tem­ber 24, 4 – 6PM: Adaptation(s) 2.0, Pratt Insti­tute Cen­ter for Cli­mate Adap­ta­tion & New York Cli­mate Exchange (by invi­ta­tion only) — Join for a guid­ed exhi­bi­tion tour and pan­el discussion.

Sep­tem­ber 25, 9AM-6PM: NYCE Cli­mate Tech Show­case, The New York Cli­mate Exchange 

Sep­tem­ber 26, 10 – 11:30 AM: Imag­in­ing Cli­mate Resilient and Thriv­ing Com­mu­ni­ties through Youth Edu­ca­tion Pro­grams, Geor­gia Tech & New York Cli­mate Exchange

Sep­tem­ber 26, Liv­ing Build­ings are Resilient Build­ings: Cli­mate Mit­i­ga­tion AND Adap­ta­tion, Geor­gia Tech & New York Cli­mate Exchange (by invi­ta­tion only)

Sep­tem­ber 26, 6:30 – 8:30PM: Film Screen­ing and Pan­el: ​“Get­ting Out­side the Cli­mate Bub­ble,” Well­come Trust & The New York Cli­mate Exchange

Sep­tem­ber 27, 1 – 3PM: Healthy Choic­es, Healthy Plan­et: Cli­mate Aware­ness in Health Edu­ca­tion, Pace Uni­ver­si­ty & New York Cli­mate Exchange (by invi­ta­tion only)

Sep­tem­ber 27, 11AM-1PM: Sus­tain­able Sto­ry­telling: On and Off Cam­era, Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um and the ​“Micro-Plas­ti­na­tion” film crew Colonels Row Build­ing 406A — Learn what makes an impact­ful sto­ry that inspires change both on and off cam­era. This pan­el will include a mix­er with oth­er media-mak­ers and a pre­view of an upcom­ing short film: ​“Micro-Plas­ti­na­tion.”

Sep­tem­ber 27, 1 – 4PM: Sus­tain­able Sto­ries: Cli­mate, Food, and Cul­ture through Diverse Voic­es, Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um and The Uproot Project Colonels Row Build­ing 406A — A keynote on the inter­sec­tion of diver­si­ty, cul­ture, and food as cli­mate solu­tions, fol­lowed by a pan­el dis­cus­sion and work­shop offer­ing sto­ry­telling tech­niques for envi­ron­men­tal jour­nal­ism and insights into high­light­ing these cru­cial intersections.

Sep­tem­ber 28, 10AM-5PM: Imag­i­nary Acoustic Visions of Cas­tle Williams, Har­vest­works & New York Cli­mate Exchange

Sep­tem­ber 28 & 29, 11AM-1PM: Cli­mate Fic­tion Work­shop with Author Susan Kaye Quinn, Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um and the NYC Cli­mate Writ­ers Col­lec­tive Colonels Row Build­ing 406A — Write a sto­ry to build a bet­ter world! This event, orga­nized by the NYC Cli­mate Writ­ers Col­lec­tive, will spark cre­ativ­i­ty in every­one — no mat­ter their pre­vi­ous writ­ing experience.

Sep­tem­ber 28, 11AM-5PM: Flower Plas­ma by Vic­to­ria Ves­na in col­lab­o­ra­tion with plas­ma physi­cist Wal­ter Gekel­man and bio­med­ical engi­neer Haley Marks, Har­vest­works Nolan Park Build­ing 10A — Spe­cial instal­la­tion fea­tur­ing sound and images from UCLA’s Large Plas­ma Device, solar wind data from NASA’s Park­er Solar Probe, and nat­ur­al record­ings — offer­ing an immer­sive med­i­ta­tion on solar ener­gy and the cycle of cre­ation and destruction.

Sep­tem­ber 28, 1 – 3PM: Cli­mate Café at the Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um, Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um Colonels Row Build­ing 406A — An uplift­ing after­noon of refresh­ments, med­i­ta­tion, and a mean­ing­ful con­ver­sa­tion on cli­mate emo­tions. Par­tic­i­pants can enjoy cof­fee and snacks with oth­ers in the cli­mate com­mu­ni­ty as they share their feel­ings and get to know oth­ers in the movement.

Sep­tem­ber 28, 2 – 2:30PM: Gar­den­ing for Cli­mate Change, GrowNYC Urban Farm —  This guid­ed tour will focus on how cli­mate change will impact gar­den­ing, what GrowNYC’s Teach­ing Gar­den on Gov­er­nors Island does to mit­i­gate its impact on cli­mate change, and how gar­dens can adapt to a chang­ing climate.

Sep­tem­ber 28, 2 – 3:30PM: Cli­mate Week Pol­li­na­tor Walk, The Bee Con­ser­van­cy Urban Farm — Learn about New York City’s pol­li­na­tors (and the habi­tats that sup­port them) and explore nature through a pollinator’s lens with an expe­ri­enced guide from the Bee Conservancy. 

Sep­tem­ber 28, 2 – 3:30PM: Gov­er­nors Island Bird Tour, NYC Bird Alliance and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Colonels Row Build­ing 405B — Whether you’re an expert bird­er or a begin­ner, this guid­ed tour — led by an NYC Bird Alliance edu­ca­tor along with the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s arborist — will help you dis­cov­er all of the birdlife the Island has to offer, and how the Island’s trees pro­vide vital habitat. 

Sep­tem­ber 28, 2:30 – 3PM: Imag­ined Futures: Grief & Seeds, Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um and Holes in the Wall Col­lec­tive Colonels Row Build­ing 406A — Vis­it the Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um for three embod­ied activ­i­ties to learn about alter­na­tive time scales — bear­ing wit­ness to our fear and our col­lec­tive respon­si­bil­i­ty to where we go from here. 

Sep­tem­ber 28, 3 – 5PM: The Chase (EP) Release Par­ty: A Cli­mate Week Jam, Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um and Cre­dle Enter­tain­ment Colonels Row Build­ing 406A — Cel­e­brate the close of Cli­mate Week with the release of CREDLE’s 5^th stu­dio project, The Chase (EP), an Afropop, R&B, and House genre-focused music project.

Sep­tem­ber 29, 3 – 5PM: Grief & Seeds: Hon­or­ing the Past, Cre­at­ing the Future, Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um, Holes in the Wall Col­lec­tive, Amer­i­can Indi­an Com­mu­ni­ty House Colonels Row Build­ing 406A — Close out Cli­mate Week with inten­tion at this gath­er­ing to hon­or place and pos­si­bil­i­ty. Fea­tur­ing elder and activist Jk Canepa, youth orga­niz­er Anna Tso­mo with youth from 6^th St. Com­mu­ni­ty Cli­mate Action group, a pop­up seed gath­er­ing with Next Epoch Seed Library, and a clos­ing rit­u­al led by Noelle Ghous­sai­ni of Sacred Space. 

Sep­tem­ber 28, 3 – 6PM: Remem­ber Ida: A 3^rd Anniver­sary Pod­cast Lis­ten­ing Ses­sion and Reflec­tion Cir­cle, Queens Mem­o­ry Project & New York Cli­mate Exchange

On View Dai­ly: Gov­er­nors Island Arts Pub­lic Artworks

Gov­er­nors Island Arts, the arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram pre­sent­ed by the Trust, boasts a diverse col­lec­tion of pub­lic art pieces, sev­er­al of which engage direct­ly with issues of cli­mate and the environment: 

• Sam Van Aken’s The Open Orchard, locat­ed in The Hills with­in the Island’s award-win­ning park, takes the form of a vast pub­lic orchard of hybrid fruit trees, each con­tain­ing mul­ti­ple heir­loom vari­eties that were once found in abun­dance in the New York City area but have large­ly dis­ap­peared due to cli­mate change and the indus­tri­al­iza­tion of agriculture.
• Mark Dion’s The Field Sta­tion of the Melan­choly Marine Biol­o­gist, locat­ed inside Build­ing 105 across from Fort Jay, trans­forms a his­toric for­mer arse­nal build­ing into an aban­doned research out­post that invites vis­i­tors to peer inside and imag­ine the life of a soli­tary researcher faced with the real­i­ties of a future marred by cli­mate change.
• Duke Riley’s Not for Nut­ten, locat­ed in the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing fer­ry ter­mi­nal at 10 South Street in Man­hat­tan, is a large-scale mur­al depict­ing vignettes from the Island’s his­to­ry con­tained with­in mod­ern-day sin­gle-use plas­tic con­tain­ers found float­ing in oceans world­wide in a play on the tra­di­tion­al ​“ship in a bottle.”

Orga­nized by the Cli­mate Group, Cli­mate Week NYC runs Sep­tem­ber 22 – 29, 2024, and is the largest annu­al cli­mate event of its kind. With a unique water­front cam­pus envi­ron­ment, an award-win­ning park engi­neered for cli­mate change; a diverse and engaged audi­ence of near­ly one mil­lion vis­i­tors every year; cli­mate pilot­ing and edu­ca­tion oppor­tu­ni­ties; a col­lec­tion of pub­lic art com­mis­sions engag­ing direct­ly with cli­mate issues; and a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of edu­ca­tion­al, non­prof­it, and com­mer­cial ten­ants — includ­ing Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, Beam Cen­ter, Wind Sup­port NYC, the soon-to-open But­ter­milk Labs, and The New York Cli­mate Exchange — Gov­er­nors Island is at the fore­front of research­ing and demon­strat­ing cli­mate solu­tions built for cities. 

The Trust’s Gov­er­nors Island Cli­mate pro­grams are made pos­si­ble with the gen­er­ous sup­port of Ama­zon, Con Edi­son, Deutsche Bank, the Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, LISC, and the New York Com­mu­ni­ty Trust.

About the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island is the non­prof­it cor­po­ra­tion cre­at­ed by the City of New York that is respon­si­ble for the rede­vel­op­ment and oper­a­tion of 150 acres of Gov­er­nors Island. The Trust’s mis­sion is to real­ize the full poten­tial of Gov­er­nors Island for the inspi­ra­tion and enjoy­ment of all New York­ers, demon­strat­ing a bold vision for pub­lic space. For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org.

About The New York Cli­mate Exchange

The New York Cli­mate Exchange (The Exchange) is a new not-for-prof­it cli­mate solu­tions cen­ter designed to build com­mu­ni­ty, fos­ter col­lab­o­ra­tion, advance cli­mate knowl­edge, and empow­er mar­gin­al­ized com­mu­ni­ties through cross-dis­ci­pli­nary net­work­ing, impact­ful pro­gram­ming, and cut­ting-edge facil­i­ties. While The Exchange will have a phys­i­cal pres­ence on Gov­er­nors Island, its spir­it and influ­ence will extend beyond the Island into New York City and across the coun­try and world. Our diverse coali­tion of part­ners — com­mit­ted and pre­pared to col­lec­tive­ly dis­rupt the sta­tus quo — incor­po­rates local and glob­al per­spec­tives on cli­mate change from acad­e­mia, the pri­vate sec­tor, and com­mu­ni­ty-lev­el orga­ni­za­tions. As the first of its kind, The Exchange will unlock inte­grat­ed and scal­able approach­es to sus­tain­abil­i­ty, ulti­mate­ly serv­ing as a glob­al mod­el for sus­tain­able pos­i­tive change. 

Aug 20 12:00 am

Guest post by Col­by Dor­cé­ly, Cli­mate Pro­grams Intern at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island

In June 2023, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island launched its Cli­mate Solu­tions Pilot­ing Pro­gram, a call for pilot­ing and demon­stra­tion projects address­ing cli­mate mit­i­ga­tion, cli­mate adap­ta­tion, and envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice in New York City and cities around the world. One year lat­er, after select­ing the inau­gur­al cohort of pilot­ing projects, the Trust held its first cli­mate demo days fea­tur­ing projects includ­ing inno­va­tions relat­ed to liv­ing shore­lines, urban aqua­cul­ture, water and air qual­i­ty, and indoor agri­cul­ture. Through­out these two events, vis­i­tors had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to inter­act with these inno­v­a­tive projects and the pas­sion­ate indi­vid­u­als behind them. 

The work being show­cased on Gov­er­nors Island demon­strates the Trust’s efforts to cre­ate real-world oppor­tu­ni­ties for inno­va­tion, sup­port the growth of ear­ly-stage com­pa­nies, and engage New York­ers in the cli­mate solu­tions that are cre­at­ing the jobs of the future. Pilot­ing at Gov­er­nors Island sup­ports New York City’s Green Econ­o­my Action Plan, which address­es the chal­lenge of cli­mate change while cre­at­ing trans­for­ma­tive oppor­tu­ni­ties for com­pa­nies and New York­ers across the five boroughs. 

On Thurs­day, July 11, 2024, the Island wel­comed over 100 atten­dees from var­i­ous sec­tors of the cli­mate world for a Cli­mate Demo Day Pre­view event, includ­ing fun­ders, inno­va­tors, and pol­i­cy­mak­ers. The event opened with a wel­come by Deputy May­or Maria Tor­res-Springer, who has been a crit­i­cal cham­pi­on in sup­port­ing the growth of Gov­er­nors Island as a Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions. Her pres­ence under­scored the impor­tance of col­lab­o­ra­tive efforts in address­ing cli­mate chal­lenges and high­light­ed the city’s com­mit­ment to fos­ter­ing an inclu­sive and trans­for­ma­tive green economy.

The excite­ment from the Demo Day Pre­view car­ried over into the week­end with a fam­i­ly-friend­ly Cli­mate Pilot­ing Sum­mer Kick­off held on City of Water Day, July 13, 2024. The even­t’s cen­ter­piece fea­tured ground­break­ing projects from the win­ners of the Water Abun­dance Chal­lenge, the Trust’s first-ever themed chal­lenge, aim­ing to answer how water can help to pow­er cli­mate solu­tions that grow blue and green jobs and cre­ate health­i­er com­mu­ni­ties. Through­out City of Water Day, vis­i­tors had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to inter­act with these inno­v­a­tive projects and the pas­sion­ate indi­vid­u­als behind them. 

Isabelle Stin­nette, Restora­tion Man­ag­er for the New York-New Jer­sey Har­bor and Estu­ary Pro­gram at the Hud­son Riv­er Foun­da­tion, one of the orga­niz­ing bod­ies behind City of Water Day, expressed her admi­ra­tion for the event, stat­ing, ​“I think it’s real­ly nice that this is a hotbed of inno­va­tion, espe­cial­ly cli­mate-focused inno­va­tion. There’s a safe space for these small com­pa­nies and non­prof­its to pilot their projects, share with the com­mu­ni­ty, and get input and help.” 

The fol­low­ing sec­tions detail spe­cif­ic projects that cap­ti­vat­ed atten­dees and show­cased the poten­tial for sus­tain­able urban development.

Air Qual­i­ty Mon­i­tor­ing with South Bronx Unite

South Bronx Unite show­cased an air qual­i­ty mon­i­tor­ing ini­tia­tive aimed at iden­ti­fy­ing pol­lu­tion sources and their health impacts in the South Bronx. 

“Air qual­i­ty mon­i­tor­ing is not some­thing that every­body is famil­iar with,” said Leslie Vasquez, Clean Air Pro­gram Orga­niz­er. ​“We need to advo­cate for pol­i­cy changes based on our data.” This project uti­lizes autonomous, solar-pow­ered mon­i­tors to pro­vide real-time data, help­ing to push for clean­er air and bet­ter health resources in dis­ad­van­taged com­mu­ni­ties. By involv­ing the com­mu­ni­ty in mon­i­tor­ing efforts, South Bronx Unite aims to raise aware­ness and dri­ve pol­i­cy changes that can sig­nif­i­cant­ly improve air qual­i­ty and pub­lic health outcomes.

Find South Bronx Unite’s air qual­i­ty mon­i­tor at the base of Out­look Hill.

Duro UAS: Real-Time Water Qual­i­ty Data

Duro UAS, show­cased their Inter­net of Things (IoT) water qual­i­ty mon­i­tor­ing devices, which pro­vide real-time data to track water conditions. 

“Engag­ing the pub­lic and show­ing them the amaz­ing cli­mate tech projects hap­pen­ing here is essen­tial,” empha­sized Bri­an Wil­son, Co-Founder and CEO. Duro UAS’s dig­i­tal sen­sors offer a prac­ti­cal solu­tion for mon­i­tor­ing water qual­i­ty, mak­ing it eas­i­er to man­age and improve water resources. Their tech­nol­o­gy not only helps in detect­ing pol­lu­tants but also in under­stand­ing broad­er envi­ron­men­tal trends, there­by enabling more informed deci­sion-mak­ing for water man­age­ment and con­ser­va­tion efforts.

Check out Duro UAS’s son­des in the waters off of Yan­kee Pier and Sois­sons Landing.

LAERO: Trans­form­ing Grey­wa­ter Treatment

LAERO intro­duced Cycleau, a com­pact grey­wa­ter treat­ment sys­tem that can be installed under sinks, show­ers, and laun­dry units. 

“By treat­ing grey­wa­ter where it’s gen­er­at­ed, we can reduce the num­ber of pol­lu­tants enter­ing our water­ways,” high­light­ed founder Noe­mi Flo­rea. This inno­v­a­tive sys­tem has the poten­tial to sig­nif­i­cant­ly decrease urban waste­water pol­lu­tion, pro­vid­ing a sus­tain­able solu­tion for res­i­den­tial and com­mer­cial use. LAERO’s approach to onsite water treat­ment rep­re­sents a shift towards decen­tral­ized water man­age­ment, which can alle­vi­ate the bur­den on munic­i­pal treat­ment facil­i­ties and con­tribute to health­i­er urban water­ways. The prod­uct oper­ates as a stand­alone piece of equip­ment and can also inte­grate into a household’s exist­ing sup­ply lines and drain­pipes, equip­ping res­i­dents and com­mu­ni­ties with an afford­able and scal­able option to improve their own water infrastructure.

Dis­cov­er the Cycleau device in action at the Parade Ground water sta­tion and inside the ADA bath­room at Yan­kee Pier.

Eco­log­i­cal Inno­va­tion by Object Territories

Object Ter­ri­to­ries pre­sent­ed their project focused on cre­at­ing urban habi­tats along shorelines. 

“Our goal is to fos­ter eco­log­i­cal stew­ard­ship and cre­ate sus­tain­able urban envi­ron­ments,” stat­ed Mar­cus Carter, Part­ner at Object Ter­ri­to­ries. Mar­cus is also an Assis­tant Pro­fes­sor at Rens­se­laer Poly­tech­nic Insti­tute, where his stu­dents work along­side experts to design and imple­ment urban micro­hab­i­tats along shore­lines. This hands-on involve­ment pro­vides them with prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ence in sus­tain­able urban plan­ning, prepar­ing them to con­tribute to future urban resilience initiatives. 

Their designs allow vis­i­tors to inter­act with and under­stand the impor­tance of urban eco­log­i­cal sys­tems, pro­mot­ing a deep­er con­nec­tion to nature with­in the city and were designed in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Cen­ter for Archi­tec­ture, Sci­ence, and Ecol­o­gy (CASE) at Rens­se­laer Poly­tech­nic Insti­tute, after­NA­TURE, and Fort Miller Group. The Object Ter­ri­to­ries team aims to enhance bio­di­ver­si­ty and resilience in urban areas, mak­ing cities more liv­able and envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly by inte­grat­ing green spaces and nat­ur­al habi­tats into urban planning.

Find Object Ter­ri­to­ries’ instal­la­tions along the shore­lines near Yan­kee Pier lat­er this year.

RETI Cen­ter: Water­front Resilience

RETI Cen­ter dis­cussed their ini­tia­tives relat­ed to coastal activ­i­ties like kelp har­vest­ing and their float­ing Blue­Blocks Gardens. 

“RETI Cen­ter pro­vides train­ing pro­grams for peo­ple involved in coastal activ­i­ties and work­force devel­op­ment for a more sus­tain­able city and urban envi­ron­ments,” explained project team mem­ber Greg Pucil­lo. ​“I’m excit­ed to see the launch out into the water and also to engage with oth­er groups on Gov­er­nors Island who are pilot­ing new projects to envi­sion a future for New York City’s water­front. Our goal is to fos­ter a broad­er con­ver­sa­tion about sus­tain­abil­i­ty in con­nec­tion with the water.” 

New York City youth are active­ly involved in RETI Center’s projects. They par­tic­i­pate in hands-on learn­ing expe­ri­ences, help­ing to build and main­tain the Blue­Blocks Gar­dens and kelp har­vest­ing sys­tems. This engage­ment not only pro­vides valu­able work­force train­ing but also instills a deep­er under­stand­ing of sus­tain­able prac­tices and the impor­tance of eco­log­i­cal stewardship​. The Blue­Blocks Gar­dens allow marine habi­tat to thrive both in and above the water, sup­port­ing wildlife and build­ing a liv­ing shore­line. When deployed in large instal­la­tions, they are envi­sioned to absorb and slow down wave action in low-lying water­front communities. 

Find RETI Center’s Blue­Blocks Gar­dens float­ing off Yan­kee Pier.

GrowNYC: Hydro­pon­ics for Urban Agriculture

GrowNYC high­light­ed the ben­e­fits of hydro­pon­ic farm­ing with their con­tain­er farm locat­ed on Gov­er­nors Island — a joint effort between the orga­ni­za­tion, Con Edi­son, the Elec­tric Pow­er Research Insti­tute (EPRI), and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island.

“Hydro­pon­ics can mit­i­gate many chal­lenges faced by tra­di­tion­al agri­cul­ture, espe­cial­ly in a chang­ing cli­mate,” observed Bar­ry Roth­stein, Con­tain­er Farm Coor­di­na­tor. GrowNYC’s sys­tem uses sig­nif­i­cant­ly less water and space, mak­ing it a viable option for urban food pro­duc­tion and con­tribut­ing to food secu­ri­ty and sus­tain­abil­i­ty. This approach not only con­serves water resources but also pro­vides a scal­able mod­el for urban agri­cul­ture, which can be adopt­ed by com­mu­ni­ties to improve local food sys­tems and reduce their envi­ron­men­tal footprint. 

GrowNYC’s con­tain­er farm is locat­ed on the Parade Ground behind the Colonels Row houses.

Sea­weed City: Urban Sea­weed Farming

Sea­weed City explores the poten­tial of urban sea­weed farm­ing for envi­ron­men­tal remediation. 

“Sea­weed farm­ing can help clean our water­ways and cre­ate marine habi­tats,” explained co-founder Luke Eddins. Their project aims to use sea­weed to extract excess nutri­ents from the water, com­bat ocean acid­i­fi­ca­tion, and pro­vide raw mate­ri­als for sus­tain­able products. 

“I’m excit­ed because my nephews are here, and I’m real­ly excit­ed to share some water activ­i­ty with them and see how much I love plants,” added co-founder Shan­jana Mah­mud. Grow­ing sea­weed through urban aqua­cul­ture cre­ates a small­er car­bon foot­print than land-based agri­cul­ture and presents an oppor­tu­ni­ty to engage New York­ers in farm­ing meth­ods for a sus­tain­able future. Through that, Sea­weed City hopes to pro­mote an eco­log­i­cal­ly, eco­nom­i­cal­ly, and cul­tur­al­ly pro­duc­tive shore­line. Sea­weed City’s pilot­ing project is fis­cal­ly spon­sored by New­town Creek Alliance.

Check out Sea­weed City’s Urban Sea­weed Nurs­ery in the waters off Yan­kee Pier lat­er this year.

Just EcoC­i­ties & Bio­hab­i­tats: Tidal Planters

Just EcoC­i­ties and Bio­hab­i­tats intro­duced their tidal planter project, a col­lab­o­ra­tion aimed at improv­ing water qual­i­ty and expand­ing wet­land habi­tats. ​“We’re pilot­ing this project to address com­bined sew­er over­flows and enhance urban bio­di­ver­si­ty,” men­tioned Jamie Ong, Founder of Just EcoCities. 

“It’s been real­ly excit­ing today to talk to dif­fer­ent peo­ple and see who knows about com­bined sew­er over­flows, who doesn’t, and then get input on what they think are rea­son­able solu­tions,” added Kevin Dahms, Water Resources Engi­neer at Biohabitats. 

Their tidal planters act as mini-wet­lands, fil­ter­ing water and pro­vid­ing habi­tat for wildlife. This tech­nol­o­gy pro­vides a mod­el for expand­ing marsh habi­tat through­out urban water­fronts with lim­it­ed space on land or with no nat­ur­al shore­lines. The project exem­pli­fies how design inno­va­tion and com­mu­ni­ty involve­ment can work togeth­er to estab­lish marsh habi­tat through­out urban water­fronts, clean up pol­lut­ed water, and increase con­nec­tion with local waterways.

Find Just EcoC­i­ties & Bio­hab­i­tats’ tidal planters near the water­front at Yan­kee Pier lat­er this year.

Vycarb

Brook­lyn-based start­up Vycarb has devel­oped a new sys­tem for mea­sur­ing and remov­ing green­house gas car­bon diox­ide (CO₂) in water. CO₂ is increas­ing in the atmos­phere, warm­ing the plan­et, and in the ocean, where it harms ocean life. In the East Riv­er, CO₂ is excep­tion­al­ly high because of pol­lu­tion, con­tribut­ing to glob­al warm­ing and acid­i­fy­ing the water. Through car­bon cap­ture, cli­mate change impacts can be mit­i­gat­ed in water. With its first of its kind tech­nol­o­gy for cap­tur­ing and mea­sur­ing CO₂ in water, Vycarb is able to reverse ocean acid­i­fi­ca­tion and remove cli­mate-warm­ing CO2 in the waters just off this pier. Vycar­b’s mod­u­lar, scal­able mod­el opens up oppor­tu­ni­ties for all com­mu­ni­ties to inte­grate car­bon cap­ture tech­nolo­gies into urban envi­ron­ments to achieve envi­ron­men­tal and eco­nom­ic benefits. 

Vycar­b’s drop-in water treat­ment sys­tem can be seen at Pier 102.

By bring­ing togeth­er diverse solu­tions and fos­ter­ing pub­lic engage­ment, the cli­mate pilot­ing projects on Gov­er­nors Island demon­strate one impor­tant step towards a sus­tain­able future by wel­com­ing all vis­i­tors to meet a diverse cohort of cli­mate inno­va­tors and to learn about cli­mate solu­tions in devel­op­ment today. The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s com­mit­ment to sup­port­ing such inno­v­a­tive projects under­scores the poten­tial for cities to become hubs of envi­ron­men­tal solu­tions and resilience. As these ini­tia­tives con­tin­ue to evolve, they hold the promise of mak­ing sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions to urban sus­tain­abil­i­ty and cli­mate resilience, set­ting an inspir­ing exam­ple for oth­er cities around the world. The Trust is grate­ful to the sup­port­ers of Gov­er­nors Island’s cli­mate pro­grams, includ­ing ConEdi­son, Ama­zon, New York Com­mu­ni­ty Trust, the Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, Deutsche Bank, and LISC.